


old soldiers

by KathrynShadow



Category: DC Extended Universe
Genre: F/F, First Meetings, Lesbian Disaster Kate Kane, Parkour, specifically as a means of flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-28 14:56:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15709518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KathrynShadow/pseuds/KathrynShadow
Summary: "You remind me of someone."





	old soldiers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [architeuthis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/architeuthis/gifts).



> look you can't just prompt my sweet stupid bat lesbian with my sweet perfect Amazonian bisexual and not expect me to throw myself bodily towards it

There's a flash of red on the roof across the street. It's only there for a fraction of a second before it drops out of sight; if Diana had been someone else, if she had been doing something else, she might have let it go. Dismissed it as a bird or a scrap of fabric or her own imagination, moved on.

But she thought she'd seen the black silhouette of a mask cut out of the flare of color, and all of them have been looking for new allies. Five people, however talented, can never be enough to ensure the survival of an entire world. Not forever.

Diana has nowhere more pressing to be, so she follows. She isn't as quick as Barry or Clark would be—certainly not without shattering the concrete she runs on, and she doesn't mean to do any property damage today—but she is faster than most, and far more patient besides. She spend as much time learning to hunt as to fight, back home; and what is this but another, less violent kind of chase?

She thinks of Bruce before she even catches a closer glimpse of her quarry; the almost soundless bootsteps, the gadget-assisted changes in altitude, the frankly unlikely hand- and footholds that they must be finding just to provide any challenge for Diana at all.

The similarities continue with every detail she manages to spot. The figure is a woman, shorter than Diana but solidly built, lean muscle packed on a graceful frame. The color Diana originally noticed was her hair, left loose and cascading around the edges of a sharply angular mask that covers everything but her mouth. Her armor is lighter than Bruce's, but of a similar construction and coloring; their capes are nearly identical. If she could just slow down enough for them to talk, or turn sharply enough that Diana could see if there was a sigil on her breastplate, then it would be easier to tell if this was a copycat or a matter of coincidence; as it is, she doesn't slow down. Diana pauses in an alleyway just to watch the figure scramble from dumpster to fire escape, hauling herself up almost silently to grapnel up to the opposite roof; not the kind of training one could achieve in the handful of months Batman had been active outside of Gotham.

She certainly moves like he does, Diana muses as she flings herself onto the fire escape too. And then when she gets to the roof and hears no more footsteps at all, not the flutter of a cape in flight, but just the smallest whisper of breathing over the ambient sound—that's very like him, too. Unable to outrun her, to duck around a corner into the shadow of the rooftop entrance and suddenly  _stop,_ hoping that Diana will be so focused on  _chasing_ that she'll overlook anything standing still...

"I'm not here to hurt you," she calls out. "I'm only interested in talking. I promise."

The caped woman doesn't answer, but she does inhale just slightly louder before she stops breathing altogether, and Diana supposes that's about all she can ask just now. She stands still for a moment, then speeds herself around the corner before the newcomer can react. (Human, then, or very close to it.) "Hello," Diana says with a small wave—and now that they've come face to face, there is the distinct red silhouette of a stylized bat under the clasp of that cape.

There is also a gun holstered above the utility belt, which is... new. Bruce's hands aren't clean by any means, but he doesn't make it easy on himself, keeps his genuine weaponry as nonlethal as he can—to avoid the temptation to returning to his most violent tactics, or simply out of regained principle. (As if he wasn't perfectly capable of ensuring someone's death without being the one to deal the final blow himself—but if the illusion helps him become something that he hates less, then Diana can't begrudge him that.)

The Bat woman doesn't react at first, but she speaks at last. There's no modulator when she speaks, only a human voice; a little low in pitch, but it could be as much from disuse over a long patrol as a deliberate attempt to change it. "Wonder Woman, I presume," she says stiffly.

"So I'm told," Diana says with a smile. "I am sorry if I startled you. You remind me of someone."

Batwoman (until Diana knows a better name for her, that's simply what she must be) barely moves, but she does shift her weight away from the door. Not relaxed, but not a split second away from bolting, either; her back straight and posture formally tense in a way that reminds Diana of (Steve) a soldier not entirely at ease. As if breaking the silence officially ended their chase, or allowed her to accept its end. "Must have done something if you chased me through half the town because I reminded you of him."

Diana hums a laugh. "Not to  _me,"_ she says. "He's a friend of mine."

"I wasn't aware he had any." Batwoman's mouth thins, not quite into a grimace but not into any other expression either. Like she's not sure if she's just let something slip or not.

"You know him?" Diana presses in as harmlessly friendly a tone as she can.

There are a long few seconds of silence. "It's hard not to know someone after they fight Superman and then team up with him," Batwoman answers.

And there's the urge to roll her eyes and smile at the same time. (Gods, they could be related.) "You know that isn't what I mean."

The last expression was a little hard to parse, but this one is definitely a smile. Small, thin, and only on the left side of Batwoman's mouth, but present and genuine. Still, her posture doesn't loosen. "I know," she agrees. "I also know that if you wanted the truth out of me, you could always just take it."

"I prefer not to until I have to," Diana says. "As long as you aren't a threat to the people I defend, there's no need for it."

"Hmm," Batwoman says. "Never thought I'd be glad to hear a woman say she _wouldn't_ tie me up."

The laugh that comes out of Diana's mouth is sudden and startled, and Batwoman almost flinches when she hears it. "I'd prefer to at least know your name first," Diana says, grinning. "I'm Diana. It's nice to meet you." She extends a hand.

Batwoman looks at it for a second, but she reaches out and shakes it anyway. "Nice to meet you, too, Diana," she says, and leaves it at that.


End file.
